The sharp glow of nineteen-year-old Joshua McCoy's laptop screen flickered against his tired eyes, the moon's luminescent glow shining through the curtains of his modest one-bedroom apartment. The large ceiling fan spun above him blew a cool breeze across his face as he typed frantically on his laptop.
He squirmed around in his gaming chair, excited but nervous at the same time. A digital clock on his desk indicated it was past midnight already, but he didn't care.
On his laptop, he was vigorously typing lines of code, making progress on a game he had been developing for the past few months. As a university student, one of his obligations was to develop a working game prototype within a year or he would fail out of his class.
Today was the last day to submit the game to his professor, a deadline he had dreaded for months on end. He wanted to produce something high-quality, that his professor wouldn't be able to look down on.
After a few hours, he finally finished. He looked over his code one last time. The game had been polished, code double and triple-checked, and reformatted more times than he could count. He hit save, and then realized he had forgot one very important detail.
The name of the game! He had forgot to name it.
"Okay," he muttered to himself, "Kingdom building, knights and mages. I will call the game Thronemaker."
With a click, he named the game and submitted the file to his professors email.
It was finally done. He shouted, "I did it, I made my first game!"
But suddenly, his vision went dark, and he began to feel pain throughout his body.
"Argh!" he cried out in pain. His heart suddenly clenched against his chest, and he fell off of his chair to the floor, gasping in surprise.
Going in and out of consciousness, he could barely hear a noise dinging in his head.
[Target confirmed. Transmigration proceeding with User #2137654302]
In a grand bedroom in an unknown location, a young man no older than sixteen was sleeping peacefully on the bed, covered in silk sheets and nightwear fit for nobility.
His face furrowed suddenly, and his eyelids broke open revealing a beautiful set of blue eyes.
Looking around, he was confused and felt out of place.
"Whose bedroom is this? Surely this can't be the hospital? I can't afford a room like this!" remarked the man.
While he was recalling what had happened earlier, he clutched his head and pain immediately assaulted him from all sides of his head.
The man yelled out in pain, "Agh!"
New, unfamiliar memories began to assault his frontal lobe. Over sixteen years of memories migrated into his head in seconds.
The pain began to subside, and one thing was immediately made clear. He was no longer Joshua McCoy, he was Rowan Evercrest, the disgraced third son of the Evercrest noble baron family in the Valemont Kingdom.
This was not his bedroom, but Rowans.
One thing was made clear, that he had transmigrated into his own game. After all, how could he forget the name of the most important kingdom in the game! Although he didn't know the Evercrest Family, he remembered the Valemont Kingdom.
[Ding!]
[Detected that Host has woken up. Would you like to view your status?]
"W-what? Status?"
***
[Name: Rowan Evercrest
Title: None
Occupation: Noble
Affiliation: Valemont Kingdom, Barony of Evercrest
Rank: None
Summons: None
Strength: 8
Agility: 5
Constitution: 6
Endurance: 5
Mana: 10
Class: SSS-Rank Gacha Summoner]
***
[Would Host like to use a free S-Tier draw for playing the game for the first time?]
Rowan laughed, "So it really is like the game I made! Hahaha! I can actually summon characters."
The game system was inspired by his favorite RPG's he used to play, where players would have a screen that showed all of their stats in one place.
The game's premise was simple: summon knights and mages to fight for you through a gacha system, defend and upgrade your territory, and fight off waves of enemies coming to attack you. Just like medieval times, but with magic.
The main problem now was that Rowan didn't control his own territory. But soon, that will change.
"I will use the S-Tier draw now! System, give me something good!" said Rowan.
Rowan began rubbing his hands together frantically, in hopes for a good pull.
"Come on, come on!'
An S-Tier draw was guaranteed to pull at least a Silver-ranked knight or mage. In this game, characters were determined by their rank. The lowest tier was having no rank at all, then it went up to Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Transcendent.
But Rowan knew that since he had designed the game himself, pulling a silver ranked character from an S-Tier draw was low. It was far more likely to draw a gold ranked character or higher!
An ethereal glow encompassed Rowan's entire bedroom, and suddenly a figure began to materialize out of thin air.
A sword and shield began to come into view, and a mans hardened exterior wearing a full suit of metal armor could be seen.
Rowan sized him up. He looked like a knight! The man in armor began to kneel on the ground in front of Rowan, and swore his loyalty.
"Master, my name is Jonathan Fireheart, I am a wandering knight and from today on I swear my loyalty to you. It is a true honor to become your retainer, my lord."
It was at this point the mans aura came into contact with Rowan, and he tried his hardest not to kneel at the pressure it was giving off.
"Judging by this pressure... silver? No, it has to be gold rank! I actually pulled a gold-rank on my first pull! Hahaha!" Rowan laughed maniacally.
Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "My Lord?"
"Ahem.. sorry for that. You may rise now. And release your aura, too." said Rowan.
One had to know that Rowan's father, Henry Evercrest, was only a Bronze-ranked knight. A gold-ranked knight was typically a high noble, a marquis or duke ranking individual. Yet he was now in service to Rowan, a baron's son!
Knock Knock
A gentle knock could be heard outside of the room, pulling Rowan from his thoughts.
"Shoot, where do I hide Jonathan at? You know what, nevermind. I won't hide him, not from anybody. It's time to take control of this household." remarked Rowan.
"Come in."
A butler and maidservant pushed open the door with haste, not bothering to bow in front of Rowan or give him so much as a lick of respect.
"My lord. It's time for dinner. Please go downstairs and greet the Baron-"
The butler was immediately interrupted by the presence of another individual in the room.
The butler turned to Jonathan and said, "Who are you? State your intentions immediately."
"Good evening, my name is Jonathan Fireheart, a wandering knight in service of Rowan Evercrest."
The butler immediately started to laugh. "Hahaha! Are you playing a prank on us? Rowan Evercrest is a playboy and a drunken idiot, do you mean to tell me you have pledged your loyalty towards such an individual?"
Jonathan immediately released the full force of his gold-rank aura towards the butler and the maidservant in anger.
"How dare you speak of him in such a way!" yelled Jonathan.
The butler and maid immediately fell to the ground due to the extreme pressure.
"S-spare us!" said the maid.
It was from this commotion that many individuals began to make their way to Rowan's room, including the Baron himself, Rowan's father.
In a moment, the baron, the baroness, and the first son, second son, and fourth son were now all in Rowan's room.
The butler and maid passed out on the floor due to the extreme pressure exerted by Jonathan.
The baron immediately shouted, "Rowan! What is the meaning of this? And who is this man in your room?"
Rowan smirked, knowing full well that what he was about to say would change his relationship with his father forever.
"Father, lord baron, this man is Jonathan Fireheart, a wandering knight of the gold rank who has recently pledged his loyalty to me. Considering you are only a mere bronze ranking knight, I wish to become the head of the household immediately. If you don't give up power peacefully, I will be forced to eliminate you."
The baron's first son, Liam, spoke up. "My lord, Rowan just declared an act of war against you. Execute that traitor immediately!"
The baron pulled his sword out and laughed. "Hahaha! If this man is a gold rank, I'll eat my shoes for dinner! Boy, you don't know how much of a mistake you just made today!"
"Die!" yelled the Baron as he released his bronze-rank aura and charged towards Rowan.
Immediately, a loud clash of swords could be heard. Jonathan sidestepped in a flash to protect rowan from the onslaught of his father and immediately released his aura in full.
"G-gold rank aura!" The baron fell on his butt in fear, dropping his sword in the process.
The baron's sons and wife behind him fell to the floor due to Jonathan's aura.
Jonathan immediately pointed the tip of his sword at the baron's neck to signal victory.
"My lord, this man just attempted to kill you. Shall I execute him?"
The baron's face began to sweat profusely.
Rowan interrupted the tense moment. "Now now, don't kill him just yet. Let's give him a chance. Father, you had said if this man was gold rank, you would do something. Do you remember what it was?"
The baron clenched his jaw and spoke, "D-do you mean for me to eat my shoes? If that's all, I will do it right now!"
The baron immediately took off his shoes and put the tip of his shoe in his mouth.
"Mmph!" The baron began consuming the shoe using mana.
"Hahaha!" Rowan couldn't believe his eyes. He was actually making his own father eat his shoes in front of him!
The ultimate power of a gold rank knight is nothing to scoff at, that's for sure.
"Father, I trust that you will be good and leave this house with my brothers peacefully? Oh, and don't take any gold with you. I'll know if you do." said Rowan.
The baron who was in the middle of consuming his shoes, remarked "Mmph, yes, my lord! Anything for you!"
"Nah, I don't believe him" remarked Rowan. "Jonathan, kill everyone here. Leave no witnesses."
Jonathan nodded with a polite bow, "Understood my lord."
Swiftly and efficiently, the heads of the baron, baroness, and the three sons were taken cleanly off of their necks.
The barony of Evercrest was no more. Now here comes the barony of Rowan Evercrest.
Rowan walked out of his room, Jonathan trailing behind him, stepping over the corpses of his late family members.
He proceeded to the hallway where he saw a group of servants shuffling nervously about, wondering what was going on.
"You there!" shouted Rowan.
"Third son? What can I do for you?" said the butler.
Rowan nodded. "Let it be known amongst the house that the baron and his family are now gone. You are to now serve me only. Start by gathering all of the important individuals within the domain for a meeting in the reception room. Oh, and get rid of the trash in my room."
The butler quaked in fear as he complied with the order, not of Rowan, but of the mysterious man behind him, which was Jonathan.
"Understood, it shall be done my lord!"
Rowan moved to the reception hall, ignoring the inquisitive yet fearful gazes of the servants nearby.
He sat down on the chair meant for the baron, the head of the domain, and pondered for a minute. "I hope this was the right decision."
He picked up an apple from the fruit bowl in front of him and began to chew.
"Time for a change in leadership." said Rowan, to no one in particular.